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======================
Michael Kenward
ABSW e-minder
http://www.absw.org.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: psci-com: on the public understanding of science
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wayne Spencer
Sent: 23 March 2002 15:15
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: 'Creationists Bid For Status On Campus'
This week's edition of the 'Times Higher Education Supplement' contains
three
articles on the creationism-in-Middlesborough issue, while this week's
'Times
Educational Supplement' carries another article on the same subject. I
shall
post the full texts of all four pieces in separate e-mails, starting
with this
one.
Wayne Spencer
--------------------------------
'Creationists Bid For Status On Campus'
By Steve Farrar
Times Higher Education Supplement, March 22, 2002, No.1530; Pg.1
Creationists are attempting to make inroads into the United Kingdom's
universities.
Thousands of academics are being contacted in a nationwide survey on the
origins of life. The organisers hope this will be followed by campus
debates
and a conference for interested individuals.
The initiative is led by Andrew Forbes, a supporter of fundamentalist
Christian
organisations that believe scientific evidence shows the theory of
evolution is
wrong and that the Earth was created by God 6,000 years ago. Scientists
in the
United States and Australia who have clashed with creationists warned
their
British colleagues to take the threat seriously. They said that taking
part in
debates could boost the creationists'
credibility and lend weight to future demands that their religious
doctrine be
taught alongside scientific theories in schools.
The survey also asks whether the academic would sponsor a debate in
their
institution or attend a conference, and whether alternatives to
Darwinian
theory should be part of the national curriculum.
Mr Forbes told The THES that researchers in the life and earth sciences
were
being targeted to provide information for scientists, "many of whom used
to
accept evolution as a tenable theory but now have grave doubts".
Mr Forbes, who is director of London-based educational company Affinity
Membership Services, said responses included some against evolution.
"People
are so dogmatic in their views over Darwin that there's almost a
conspiracy to
stop open debate. If we're honest scientists, we have to look at all the
possibilities."
John Farrar, director of the Institute of Environmental Science at the
University of Wales, Bangor. He received the survey last week, said the
questions were poor, but he intended to reply outlining his support for
evolution. "I think it is vital that scientists make their position
clear,
which is that creationism isn't a tenable belief," he said.
Trevor Emmett, senior lecturer in forensic science at Anglia Polytechnic
University, believes this will not be easy. He took part in a debate
with John
Mackay, the international director of the Creation Research
organisation, in
October. It was part of a tour, organised by Mr Forbes and two
colleagues, that
included meetings held by university Christian unions.
Dr Emmett argued against creationism but subsequently learnt that
Creation
Research's website proclaims: "Cambridge geologist Dr T. Emmett concedes
'evolution really gives us no answers'". He said this misrepresented his
views.
"Whereas a reasonable-minded scientist will always admit where there is
ambiguity or a lack of evidence, they are interested only in a
fundamentalist
Christian worldview and claim it is absolute truth," Dr Emmett added.
Tim Astin, lecturer in geology at Reading University and an ordained
Church of
England priest, said Mr Mackay evaded questions during a similar debate
in
November, but he felt it was worse to ignore the creationists'
anti-science message.
"They are propagandists - but the more often they're put in public and
debated
with, the more likely the truth will emerge," he said.
Creation Research's web page referred to the debates as "vital inroads
in
reaching the next generation of world leaders from these influential
centres of
learning and research".
Marshall Berman, a physicist at Sandia National Laboratories who helped
overturn anti-evolution school curriculum policies in New Mexico in the
US,
said that by making presentations at top universities the creationists
could
claim they were propounding a scientifically legitimate alternative to
evolution. Only skilled orators could hope to hold their own against
well-practised speakers in such a public forum, he said.
"The academic community should take this seriously. It may be evolution
today,
geology tomorrow and astronomy next week - there's a great deal of
science not
aligned to fundamentalist Christianity," he said.
Ian Plimer, professor of geology at Melbourne University, Australia, has
fought
a long-running battle against creationists. He said rational debate was
not
possible and would add to creationists' "propaganda, sales, egos and
power". He
added that any scientist who did take them on "must be prepared to be
somewhat
impolite. They must also be prepared to enjoy reams of vexation mail
after a
debate, as I have." He said he had received death threats from people
believed
to be on the fringe of the movement.
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